


my love for you will still be strong

by kiwikihyuk



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Kinda, Love Confessions, M/M, Pining, Summer Romance, rated teen for cursing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-29
Updated: 2019-11-29
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:15:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21602824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiwikihyuk/pseuds/kiwikihyuk
Summary: Minhyuk knew his time with Kihyun was coming to an end and he had to find a way to make it last, but his plans weren't ever well thought out.
Relationships: Lee Minhyuk/Yoo Kihyun
Comments: 5
Kudos: 51





	my love for you will still be strong

**Author's Note:**

> this fic has been sitting on my computer for so long, I had to dust the cobwebs off it before posting.
> 
> I know it's a rough time for all of us, but I thought that maybe this fic could bring some joy to us, even if just for a moment.  
> I'm never going to stop treating Wonho as a part of the band and I will keep including him in my fics. Monsta X is 7.
> 
> anyhow. this fic was inspired by the song "Boys of Summer" by the Ataris and also "Summer" by Keshi  
> I hope you guys enjoy it ♡

Minhyuk knew that there was an expiration date. Just like fruits and his favourite soft candies, this was another sweet thing that had to be consumed rapidly before it got stale, before it became unpalatable.

He didn’t want to acknowledge that, though. Didn’t want to see the little numbers on the calendar, counting down the days until he had to pack up and leave. Until they both had to leave. 

For now he was perfectly content with sitting beside Kihyun, toes buried in the sand right where the waves lapped against the shore, shoulders pressed together as they watched and laughed with their friends frolicking in the water with the setting sun as their backdrop. Somewhere along the line, Kihyun had taken his hand, and he would run his thumb over Minhyuk’s softly, squeezing when Jooheon said something particularly funny or when he was worried Hoseok was being too rough with Hyungwon.

“He needs to stop tossing him around,” Kihyun sighed. “He’s going to snap him in half.”

Minhyuk giggled, nudging his shoulder into Kihyun’s. “And you said you couldn’t care less if anything happened to Hyungwon.”

“Shut up,” he mumbled, shooting Minhyuk a glare which only made the other boy laugh and lean over to kiss his cheek.

Minhyuk thought the pink on Kihyun’s face rivalled the pink in the sunset in front of them.

Three days.

There were only three days left before he had to throw it all away, along with the piles of snack wrappers littered around his bedroom.

Hoseok thought Minhyuk freaking out about it was romantic. Hyungwon just found it pathetic.

“If you like him so much, just tell him,” he groaned. He was currently lying sprawled out on Minhyuk’s unmade bed, legs dangling off the side of it, wearing slightly damp swim trunks and a carelessly buttoned floral shirt. He looked nothing short of ridiculous.

“It’s  _ really _ not that easy,” Minhyuk whined, shoving Hyungwon’s long arms aside so he could lie beside him.

From his spot on Minhyuk’s bright yellow bean bag in the corner of his small room, Hoseok laughed, and Minhyuk turned his head to glare at him, but it was really hard to even  _ pretend  _ to be mad at a person like Hoseok, and so his expression melted into one of despair. “Why are  _ you _ laughing?!”

“Because it  _ is _ that easy, Min,” Hoseok simply replied, giving his friend a reassuring smile, complete with the cutest of head tilts. “I think you should tell him. You don’t have to make a big deal out of it if you don’t want to, but I’d say it’s worth taking the risk if you like him so much.”

“Yeah, what he said,” Hyungwon grumbled, turning to face Minhyuk. A second later, he had pulled his long legs up and slid his feet under Minhyuk’s shirt, causing the blonde to yelp.

“They're so fucking cold, Hyungwon!” he whined, rolling away. “I hate you!”

“Minhyuk!” his father’s voice boomed from somewhere outside the room. “Watch your language!”

Groaning as his friends laughed, Minhyuk stared up at the ceiling in despair. Life couldn't get much harder.

  
  


There wasn’t much of a boardwalk in the town they lived in; it was more like a sidewalk alongside the shore, almost imperceptible on the days it was windy and the sand would spill onto the faded red and white bricks. It was nice, though, for when you didn’t want to trudge through the sand, just wanting some solid ground by the sea breeze.

It was later that same night, the sun sitting low on the horizon, when Minhyuk was walking alongside Kihyun on the aforementioned boardwalk, hands loosely interlocked and swinging between them. Kihyun was wearing his white muscle tee, the one that showed off just how his tattoos spilled from his arm onto his chest. It drove Minhyuk a little crazy each time he wore it, and would always remind him of the first time they met, right at the beginning of their long summer.

_ It had been a sweltering hot day where even the shorts and thin loose shirt Minhyuk had been wearing felt like too much, his body drenched in sweat as more rolled down his sides uncomfortably. The air felt heavy around them and even the sea breeze didn’t offer much relief from the suffocating feeling. _

_ In an attempt to escape the heat, even if just for a few moments, Minhyuk had dragged Changkyun into the first ice-cream parlour they came across. It was a newer one, with cozy plush seats, sleek white tables and a nice view overlooking the shore. Minhyuk had been eyeing it ever since he had gotten home for summer break a few days earlier, so he took in his surroundings excitedly, still clinging onto Changkyun when he noticed Jooheon and Hyunwoo standing by the counter, talking to someone. _

_ “Jooheon! Hyunwoo!” he exclaimed and, with Changkyun helplessly in tow, made his way over to their friends.  _

_ “Hey guys!” Jooheon smiled at the two of them before nodding to the stranger: a purple-haired boy with a small smile on his face. “This is Kihyun, we go to school together.” _

_ “Hey!” Minhyuk greeted him enthusiastically, ignoring Kihyun’s outstretched hand and going in for a hug instead. “I’m Minhyuk! Nice to meet you!” _

_ Laughing, Kihyun patted Minhyuk’s back politely before pulling away. “Nice to meet you, too.” _

_ Changkyun was much more polite, shaking Kihyun’s hand as he introduced himself before shoving his hands back into the pockets of his dumb camo shorts. _

_ “Are you from around here?” Minhyuk asked curiously. It was a small enough town that most people their age knew each other, and he had definitely never seen Kihyun before - he would have remembered that face. _

_ Surprisingly, Kihyun nodded. “Yeah, I live by the green line subway station.” _

_ “Really?” Minhyuk couldn’t believe it. “That’s close to Changkyun, then!” Aforementioned boy simply nodded, letting Minhyuk continue. “I haven’t ever seen you around, though.” _

_ “Ah, yeah, I didn’t grow up here,” Kihyun explained, absently running a hand through the front of his hair. “My family moved down here a few years ago, but I was already in college at the time so it’s not really like I’m around very much.” _

_ Nodding, Minhyuk took in the words but didn’t really pay attention to them. He had found something else to fixate on: Kihyun’s tattoos. _

_ They were colourful and swirling up from the ditch of his left elbow, disappearing under his sleeve, and Minhyuk couldn’t help but wonder just how further out they spread.  _

_ He was in the process of picking apart and trying to make out what the tattoos were when he tuned back into the conversation, which had drifted into Hyunwoo explaining how the two of them had met. When he met Kihyun’s gaze again, the other boy was already looking at him. The two of them quickly looked away, embarrassed at being caught, but a second later their gazes met again, and Kihyun let out a little laugh. _

_ It was at that moment that Minhyuk knew this summer was shaping out to be an interesting one. _

  
  


“Are you hungry?” Kihyun asked, quiet above the sea breeze whooshing past their ears, bringing Minhyuk back into the moment. When Minhyuk nodded, Kihyun pointed to a convenience store, one of the only storefronts still lit up. “Come on, then. My treat.”

Carrying everything they bought in their arms, they made their way to the beach. There were still a few people hanging around, mostly young people around their age, but Minhyuk didn’t mind. When they found a secluded spot on the sand, Kihyun laid out the towel he brought, just big enough for the two of them to sit on, and they dropped all the snacks in the tiny space between them, half of it falling on the sand. Kihyun rushed to push the kimbab back onto the towel, not wanting sand to get into the packaging, and Minhyuk just laughed.

As Minhyuk got to work opening the can of peach juice they got to share, Kihyun sighed beside him, leaning back on his hands. “I’ve been living here for a few years now but I still can’t believe how beautiful it is at night,” Kihyun breathed out, eyes trailed on the horizon. The sun was setting quickly, the sky painted in shades of pink and purple that reminded Minhyuk of Kihyun’s hair. Hunh, he seemed to compare him to a sunset pretty often. “I can’t believe the summer is ending already.”

“Me neither,” Minhyuk sighed softly and took a noisy sip of the drink. “Don’t really want to go back to school.”

“At least it’s our last year, right?”

“I guess…”

Sensing the shift in mood, Kihyun turned his head to face Minhyuk. “Are you okay?” he asked, reaching out to place a hand over Minhyuk’s free one.

Humming, Minhyuk gave him a smile. “Let’s not ruin the night with thoughts of school.”

“Okay.” Kihyun smiled back and squeezed Minhyuk’s hand before letting it go and sitting up straight. “Let’s eat then!”

Two packs of kimbab and the can of peach juice later, Minhyuk was pleasantly full. The sun had disappeared below the ocean waves, the light of the moon and the streetlamps just enough to make out Kihyun’s sharp features.

In the low light, he looked otherworldly beautiful, and Minhyuk’s heart squeezed painfully at the thought of letting him go.

“You’re zoning out,” Kihyun laughed before reaching over to poke Minhyuk’s cheek. He then reached into the plastic bag again and pulled out two bottles of beer, keeping one beside him before handing the other to Minhyuk.

Gratefully, Minhyuk twisted the cap off and took a swig, hiding his pink cheeks - if Kihyun could even tell in the darkness - behind the tinted brown bottle.

“What were you thinking about? You’ve been in your own world all night.”

Ignoring how the pout on Kihyun’s face and the softness of his voice made his insides melt, Minhyuk quickly shook his head. “Seriously, it’s nothing,” he replied, lifting the bottle to his lips once again.

“Were you thinking about  _ me _ ?” Kihyun teased, poking Minhyuk again, except this time in the ribs with the top of his unopened bottle. 

“Always,” Minhyuk answered, catching Kihyun’s wrist and pulling him close. The teasing smiles never left their faces, not even when Minhyuk leaned in for a kiss under the moonlight. And although their breath smelled like cheap beer and spices, Minhyuk would’ve immortalized that moment if he could if it meant being able to replay the way Kihyun’s face lit up when he moved in for another kiss.

  
  
  


Minhyuk was nothing if not a procrastinator. He procrastinated on projects, essays, laundry and his own feelings - nothing was safe.

So naturally, it was way past midnight on the night before Kihyun had to leave when Minhyuk found himself on his bike in the middle of the deserted street, pedalling as fast as he could to get to Kihyun’s house.

He had never been so thankful for the short distance between them.

Once he reached, he dismounted his bike and was about to let it fall to the ground in front of the Yoo residence when he realised that it was probably not the best idea to make a loud, clattering noise in the dead of night. Catching the bike right before it could hit the ground, he rolled it towards the nearest tree, leaning it against the bark and making sure it was stable before dashing around the back of the house where Kihyun’s room window was. He knew the other boy was awake, having texted him right before he left - it turned out that Kihyun, contrary to popular belief, wasn’t immune to procrastination either. 

Minhyuk took a second to catch his breath, doubled over with his hands on his knees and bleached blonde hair falling into his eyes with the sweat, then straightened out, cleared his throat and walked up to Kihyun’s window. Knocking against the glass at a fast pace, he willed his racing heart to just calm the  _ fuck  _ down.

Within seconds, Kihyun had pulled the curtains back and glared at Minhyuk but had let him in anyways, watching in slight annoyance as the tall boy squeezed himself through the small window and ended up as a heap of limbs on his floor.

Once back on his feet, Minhyuk cleared his throat again and brushed down nonexistent creases in his shorts before shooting Kihyun a sheepish smile. “Hey.”

Kihyun looked entirely unimpressed with an eyebrow raised behind his thick glasses and his arms crossed on his chest. “What are you doing here?”

His hair was sticking out at odd ends and the blanket on his bed was pulled back, but his suitcase was still lying open on the floor, clothes spilling out of it haphazardly.

“I… Wanted to help you pack?”

“At…” Kihyun glanced at the clock on his dresser, the one shaped like the weird blue phone booth from Doctor Who (Minhyuk never quite understood the appeal, but he had no issues with watching it with Kihyun on rainy nights if it meant making the other happy). “It’s nearly three in the fucking morning, Minnie. You  _ really _ want to help me pack?”

Minhyuk wrinkled his nose, then sighed. He could keep the lie going, but Kihyun had a way of seeing right through them. “Not really…”

“I know you don’t.” He rolled his eyes. “Then?”

He found that he couldn’t meet Kihyun’s gaze. Couldn’t look at those sharp eyes he had grown to adore over the course of these past three months. “I had to tell you something.”

“Something that couldn’t wait till tomorrow morning?” Kihyun sighed, then as if on cue, yawned. “I’m exhausted, Min, and if my parents find you in my bed  _ again  _ tomorrow, it’s not going to end well.”

Minhyuk winced. Things weren’t going to end well regardless, be it with his parents or with Kihyun himself. Fuck, he should’ve known to not take his chances and gotten rid of this whole thing when the time came around.

But now it was too late, he had made his own bed and it was time enough to lie in it. So he squared his shoulders, took a breath, looked Kihyun in the face and said, “Kihyun, I like you.”

Waiting with bated breath, Minhyuk finally met his eyes. 

Kihyun just blinked.

Once, twice.

Minhyuk felt his shoulders deflate and sink the more he looked at the boy in front of him.

“You like me?” Kihyun replied, but the tone in his voice was neutral, giving away absolutely nothing of how he felt, what he was thinking. 

“Yeah.”

Absolutely calm, Kihyun moved over to his bed where sat a big hamster plushie and picked it up, brushing its fur back. Minhyuk didn’t know what to make of the situation.

That was, until Kihyun chucked the plushie at him at full force.

“Ow!” Minhyuk whined. He clutched his arm where the toy hit him and glared at Kihyun. “What the fuck was that for?!”

“It’s 3am! You really climbed through my window at  _ three in the morning _ to tell me you like me?” Kihyun grabbed the plushie from where it had bounced off Minhyuk and threw it at him again. “Minhyuk, you’re great, really, but  _ please _ keep the romantic gestures for normal times.”

“This isn’t a romantic gesture!” His voice was reaching a dangerously high pitch for this time of night, so Kihyun reached out to smack a hand over his mouth. The last thing either of them needed was Kihyun’s pissed off parents.

“Then what is it?” Kihyun hissed.

Tearing his hand off his mouth, Minhyuk held on tightly to Kihyun’s wrist. “I really like you and I don’t want you to forget about me when the summer ends because I want you to be my boyfriend, you dumbass!”

The words Kihyun had prepared seemed to die on the tip of his tongue, leaving him to open and close his mouth in confusion. “What?”

“I like you. A lot.” Minhyuk sighed, letting go of his wrist so that they could hold hands properly. “I know you’re going back to school tomorrow but I couldn’t let you go without telling you.”

“Minhyuk, I don’t- I don’t understand.” Kihyun shook his head. “Why would I forget about you?”

“Because, you know.” Minhyuk gestured in the space between them then sighed again. “The summer’s ending.”

“So?”

Frowning, Minhyuk cocked his head to the side to try and make sense of Kihyun’s words. “What do you mean, so? The summer’s ending. We’re not going to be seeing each other as much - or at all.”

Kihyun frowned. “Are you asking me out or breaking up with me? Because I’m really confused right now.”

“I just thought you wanted something casual and I assumed I- We wouldn’t talk after the summer’s over.”

Kihyun laughed, a short exhale which morphed into a yawn. “Minhyuk, god, you couldn’t have picked a worse time to have a heart-to-heart, hunh.”

“I’m sorry.”

With a sigh, Kihyun led Minhyuk over to his bed, and the two of them sat down, their thighs touching. “I really like you, too. I thought that was pretty obvious but I guess not.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Why didn’t  _ you _ ?” Kihyun countered.

Minhyuk didn’t really have an answer for that. “I thought we were just casual. You know, just a summer thing.”

“Well, I- I thought so too, at first. And then I didn’t want to bring it up, because I didn’t want to get my heart broken.”

“What would you have done if I didn’t confess?”

Kihyun looked at him, amused. “You mean if you didn’t crash through my window at 3am to tell me you like me?” When Minhyuk shoved him playfully, Kihyun laughed, catching his hand in his again. “I would’ve just gone back to school, honestly. Let my feelings die. I didn’t- Didn’t want to scare you off before we  _ had _ to part ways anyways.”

“Oh.”

Kihyun squeezed Minhyuk’s hand. “I’m glad you crashed through my window. I would’ve gone back to school and not been able to get you off my mind.”

“So… You will be my boyfriend?”

Nodding, Kihyun smiled, sleepy but still so beautiful. Minhyuk couldn’t help but kiss him slowly, gently, his free hand tangling in the back of Kihyun’s faded purple locks.

“Do you have any intentions of going home?” Kihyun murmured as they pulled away, but Minhyuk just shook his head with a playful smile and kissed him again. “In that case, go pick up my hamster, and then we can sleep? I’m so tired.”

And even if Minhyuk was going to get an earful from Kihyun’s parents the next morning, he couldn’t help but curl up closer against his boyfriend’s back, kissing the exposed skin of his shoulder gently before they were lulled to sleep by the sound of the seabreeze against Kihyun’s window panes.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed this! please feel free to leave a comment ♡ 
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/kiwikihyuk) | [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/kiwikihyuk)


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